BIGGEST REGRET. . .aside from being self absorbed,not taking advantage of all the "free" education such as auto mechanic class and, well others, but right now the auto class is on my mind.
Ever since Fernando showed me how to find and replace my air filter, I have wondered what else I get over charge for. Our Honda Civic is the first car we have bought. (Thanks to Fernando's family for the fantastic freebie of the Corolla.) We started out by religiously getting it's oil changed and doing the various mile marked maintenance. For the first time in the 2 1/2 years of owning the car, a maintenance minder has popped up. This glowing "B1" tells me my car needs a visit to the dealership. I decide to call the service department of the nearest dealer and find out some rather interesting info.
It turns out that this particular Civic doesn't need the standard mile maintenance. This is fantastic news to me since the 30K service costs over $300. I guess I just have to follow the car's glowing lights to lead me in the right direction. So, next question is how much does the "B1" service cost. That also depends on which Honda dealer I go to. It ranges from $163 to $89. In the end, the service provided is an oil change with the standard fluid top offs and rotating the tires. The rest is just looking at the car's various parts.
Now, we can change the oil and top off fluids as well as rotate our tires just fine at home or even on base at the dty car bays. (there are even car mechanics there to gives tips and help when needed) Is it worth the money to take it in?
7 comments:
If you do it yourself, the oil will get changed, the fluids will get topped off, and the other parts will get looked at. A pretty good deal.
If you take it to the dealer, you will get all of those things, plus at least $500-$1000 of "things that really need to be done". These things will be much, much more expensive to do at the dealership than anywhere else (and many of them you could do yourself).
The decisions you have to make are1) do you trust the dealer's mechanics to tell you the things that need to be fixed? and 2) can you say "no thanks" and have them fixed on your own?
I've never gotten my oil changed by a dealer for less than $200. I'm terrible at saying "no".
Ahhh I regret not taking advantage of the "free" education as well, or using all of my brain while getting educated. As far as cars, I have no clue...good thing my brother is an auto mechanic. The question is will he ever have enough time to look at my car instead of all the ones he gets paid to fix?
hey, i have no idea where to find the air filter.
on the other hand, i did learn from lisa's husband how to change a car battery, and i was able to save jenn a trip to the garage when hers died a couple months ago.
oh by the way, which movie is it that you say you should have walked out of recently but didn't?
I know the magnificent Michigan duo do all their oil changes, air filter changes, and probably rotate tires, too. I was beginning to get the drift of auto maintenance on a visit - but still haven't put in into full operation on the home front. Way to go for you!!
Honda's are great for DIY's. Basically it seems like all you need to do is figure out how to get rid of the B1 light and you're set.
If you can do it yourself, you should. Dealers seriously overcharge.
The good news is that Honda's are so reliable and don't cause too much trouble. We have a 96 Accord and we have almost had NO problems with it (knock on wood). Donald drives it about 80 miles a day round trip and it just keeps going and going and goin. So when we decided to get a van we went with the Honda Odyssey because they are so reliable.
what!? no new post today?
So i went and looked at the critics' reviews for Bride Wars, and they HATED it. You weren't alone.
Did your fandango bucks get there? I'm always nervous about emails failing to deliver.
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